Nigeria Election 2019: Igbo, Hausa Tensions?

There had been agitation across the nation during the preparation for the Nigeria presidential election slated for February 16, 2019, which got postponed to February 23, 2019, by the electoral commission. The incumbent President, Muhammadu Buhari got re-elected and set to be sworn in on June 12, 2019. Even though there were several propositions of rigging by members of the two major parties across several polling units, it cannot be denied that traces of hooliganism and violence were considerably seen in some states which led to the loss of lives and damage of properties.

It was a notable occurrence that the returning president could not win in any South Eastern State despite his gigantic winning in the North. Regardless, this puzzle is not out of context in any election settings as it has reflected in several election processes in the past. Meanwhile, his party remains the runner up across the Eastern region which means several thousand voted for him even in the East.

In 1914, Sir Frederick Lugard suggested that the two British protectorates: Southern and Northern will be under one single governor general. A few years later in 1939, the southern protectorate will later be divided into two provinces Western and Eastern. For the country was divided in such a way that the North had slightly more population than the other two regions combined which eventually marked the beginning of three geographical regions that formed along tribal lines, the Hausa and Fulani to the North, Yoruba in the South-West and Igbo to theSouth-East to create the present day Nigeria.

Should it be considered as afallacy of hastening generalization to draw out a conclusion that, there is a rigid marginalization coupled with an embittered rivalry between the Northern and Eastern people of the nation following the results of the elections? Understanding that after the colonial period, Nigeria suffered a continuous regional tension, caused by ethnic competitiveness, educational inequality, religious extremists, violent insurgencies and economic imbalance, with the South complaining of northern domination, and the North feared that the southern elite was bent on capturing power. ¹

This lead to the Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Biafra War from July 1967 to January 1970 which was caused by the attempted secession of the South Eastern province of Nigeria as the self-proclaimed Republic of Biafra. Immediate causes of the war in 1966 included a military coup which resulted in General Aguiyi-Ironsi, an Igbo, assuming power as President, followed by a northerner-led counter-coup, the control of the lucrative oil production in the Niger Delta and the killings of over 80,000 Igbo people in the North of which half of them children. Could it be said that this coupled with the violent conflicts/killings in Southern Kaduna and Benue involving Christians mostly farmers attacked by Hausa-Fulani Muslim herdsmen may have fueled bitterness towards the present government of Muhammadu Buhari?

Our aim is not to dwell on the past but to reiterate that, “No sacrifice is too much to avert chaos, prevent any further incidence of criminality, protect human lives and spare the lives of the country,”as stated during the forum of former governors in vanguard news on July 20, 2017.The sacrifices start with the use of information at our disposal. Planting and building on seeds of contempt and hatred will not in any way help the country. The president has a burden of responsibility on the nation, not on the area that voted him in or his tribe.

6 comments

I was pleased to read history and formation of Nigeria Ethnicity. Didn’t know, now thanks to you I do.

The problem of Ethnicity in African Countries ( Not only, even in western Countries) is not an affair of Nigeria of The present era.

We are always supporting the likes of us, the brethren, the people of our region.
But the responsibility of a “Conscious” President, once elected should go beyond the geographical ethnicity. Because he is not a president of “A” region, but of the whole Country. Those who voted him and those who didn’t.

Hope that our Future president will consider that.
By the way, I love the politic of Ghanaian President. Maybe you could just write some words about him and combined with his later speeches …

One last word, I like the way you present things, you don’t seem to take a side. You leave the side to the readers. I really appreciate that.

Hello Dan, thank you very much for your contribution and your suggestion! It’s a great one, President Nana Akufo-Addo is quite a thriller when it comes with lashing out the westerners. It will be great to learn a bit about the situation in Ghana! One of our writing objectives is to be able to present a situation to our readers and making them think carefully and draw their conclusion.

We call the Hausas goats yet they had better foresight than our so – called educated elites of those days…

They will keep picking leaders for us for long, especially now that we the educated are afraid of having many kids..

They are completely fearless about that…

In addition, President Buhari has proven over and over again that he is for everybody (by paying the Biafrans soldiers pesnion amongt other things). Next 4 years will make the foundation of good governance proper.

Our every time reader, thank you very much for your contribution! I think the question of having kids is quite relative in the modern day, parents should have children they can care for as children are responsibilities of a lifetime. We don’t think any ethnic group should be considered superior or inferior, it should be based on who can do the job and provide a better country for the future generation.

I look forward to a Nigeria where we will stop using the past to dictate the present probably the future too. We need to actually accept we are different but united in our diversities. A Nigeria that can look beyond its’ ethnicity and religiosity and stive together as one.